Next month, for the first time since 2001, Eric Schmidt won't have an executive position at Google or one of its affiliated companies. On Thursday afternoon, Schmidt announced he'll be stepping down from his position as executive chairman of Alphabet, Google's parent company. He won't be leaving Alphabet entirely — he'll remain on its board and will serve as a technical advisor role — but he'll be taking a step back from having a leading role. Schmidt wasn't a Google founder, but he joined the company early and played a major role in turning it into a global superpower.